Latest News

Robert Devaney • March 30, 2016

The developers of the West Heating Plant site — the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, the Levy Group and the Georgetown Companies of New York — ran into a brick wall Feb. 4 with a decision by the Old Georgetown Board.

Arguing that proposed building’s design does not honor Georgetown’s industrial past along with questions about its adjacent park, the OGB said no to the group’s plans to demolish the structure at 1051-55 29th St. NW.

Despite ample support from 29th Street neighbors and the Citizens Association of Georgetown and favorite but not unanimous approvals by the Georgetown-Burleith Advisory Neighborhood Commission, members of the federal board found that designs for the 10-story building made it look too big and not quite residential.

With his development group, Richard Levy of the Levy Group is promoting the designs of two star designers: British architect David Adjaye and landscape architect Laurie Olin.

The property group bought the two-acre property— situated between the C&O Canal, Rock Creek, 29th Street and K Street — from the federal government in 2013 for $19.5 million. High-end condo units, to be managed by the Four Seasons, will number 60 to 70, and half of the land will become a park. Levy said at a December community meeting that the condo units would run $2,000 per square foot at this year’s prices.

Adjaye was the lead architect for the National Museum of African-American History and Culture, set to open in September, as well as for two D.C. public libraries. As opposed to his first concept with vertical lines aping the heating plant, Adjaye’s second vision reveals a differently aligned building with horizontal lines that echo the flat sweeping lines of the Kennedy Center and Watergate complex as seen from the Potomac River sailing up to Georgetown. The footprint of the building is to be smaller than the original. Olin’s one-acre park joins green space from Rock Creek Park to the new building, K Street and close to Georgetown Waterfront Park.

Per the structure’s demolition, Levy and his team must get Mayor Muriel Bowser to deem their efforts a “project of special merit” to have a completely different building (though it is a similar size) for the site.

The heating plant condo design team will next present to the Fine Arts Commission Feb. 18.
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Robert Devaney •

The Georgetown Business Association held its monthly networking reception March 16 at Good Stuff Eatery near the intersection M and 33rd Streets. The popular hamburger joint was opened by local chef Spike Mendelsohn also three years ago.

The GBA heard a presentation about DC Water’s Green Infrastructure from Joanna Schmickel of Cox Graee + Spack Architects. She is a GBA board member.

The business group is celebrating 40 years as an advocate and promoter of the Georgetown business and professional community. The GBA plans a 40th-anniversary party in June and is scheduled to be at the Capella —let’s see what the reported sale of the property makes of this event.

As most of us know, Good Stuff Eatery offers “handmade burgers, hand-cut fries and handspun ice creamshakes,” it says, and is “committed to freshness, fellowship and friendliness.” It averages about 1,000 hamburgers per day at the M Street location. (We especially like the Prez Obama burger.)

The original Good Stuff Eatery is on Capitol Hill; the second in Crystal City in Arlington, Va. Other restaurants headed by Mendelsohn include We, the Pizza and Bearnaise, a steak frite place, which opened a week ago. Mendelsohn is well known for his appearances at cable TV’s “Top Chef.”

The next GBA networking reception will be April 20 at Chaia Tacos on Grace Street.
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Juliana Zovak •

The liquor license moratorium and cap in Georgetown — in place since 1989 — will expire on April 9, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board announced March 30.

Restaurants and other “multipurpose facilities,” such as galleries and theaters, may apply for a liquor license on April 9, according to the control board statement, which added that there will be no limit on the number of licenses issued.

The change does not apply to any nightclubs or taverns in the Georgetown area, as a separate law limits the number of tavern licenses to six, all of which are filled at this time.

The board noted that its decision was based in part on feedback from the community and local businesses about the decrease of problems like noise and trash that originally warranted the restrictions.

The moratorium has been in place for 27 years and extends 1,800 feet in all directions from the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and M Street, according to the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration. It limited the number of liquor licenses issued to restaurants to 68. (The cap did not apply to hotels or to businesses at Washington Harbour on K Street.)

Georgetowner •

**St. Paddy’s at Bourbon Steak**

MARCH 17TH, 2016 AT 06:30 PM | $225 PLUS TAX AND GRATUITY | DAVID.FASCITELLI@FOURSEASONS.COM | TEL: 202-944-2026 | [EVENT WEBSITE](https://www.bourbonsteakdc.com)

Taste five of Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve’s bourbons paired with tapas by chef Joe Palma.

Address

2800 Pennsylvania Ave. NW

**Okinawa Matsuri Family Days**

MARCH 18TH, 2016 AT 11:30 AM | FREE | MUSEUMINFO@GWU.EDU | TEL: 202-994-5200 | [EVENT WEBSITE](https://https://museum.gwu.edu/matsuri-family-days)

As part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, visitors can take part in games and art activities to celebrate the culture of the Japanese island of Okinawa.

Address

George Washington University Museum and Textile Museum, 701 21st St. NW

**Symposium on President Abraham Lincoln**

MARCH 19TH, 2016 AT 09:00 AM | FREE | [EVENT WEBSITE](https://fords.org)

The Abraham Lincoln Institute and Ford’s Theatre Society present a symposium on the presidency of Abraham Lincoln.

Address

Ford’s Theatre, 511 10th St. NE

**Fabrege Egg Family Festival**

MARCH 19TH, 2016 AT 10:00 AM | $5 TO $18, FREE FOR 5 AND YOUNGER | TEL: 202-686-5807 | [EVENT WEBSITE](https://hillwoodmuseum.org)

Hillwood hosts a day of craft activities and fun in honor of the egg-squisite Fabrege eggs created for the Russian royal family.

Address

Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens, 4155 Linnean Ave. NW

**Manuel Barrueco Guitar Performance**

MARCH 19TH, 2016 AT 08:00 PM | $12-20 | [EVENT WEBSITE](https://levinemusic.org)

A concert by famed classical guitarist Manuel Barrueco, faculty artist at the Peabody Conservatory and artist in residence at Levine Music.

Address

Church of the Epiphany, 1317 G St. NW

**”Women in Hellenistic and Roman Athens”**

MARCH 20TH, 2016 AT 02:00 PM | FREE | TEL: 202-737-4215 | [EVENT WEBSITE](https://www.nga.gov)

A talk by Anna Vasiliki Karapanagiotou of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports connected to the “Power and Pathos” exhibition of bronze sculpture at the National Gallery of Art.

Address

National Gallery of Art East Building, 4th St. and Constitution Ave. NW

Richard Selden •

Legendary below-ground jazz club Bohemian Caverns, a U Street mainstay, will close for good at the end of the month, when the current five-year lease expires.

Managing partner Omrao Brown, who owns the club, the restaurant Tap & Parlour above it and the nightclub Liv above that, made the decision to close the three venues with his partners — his brother Sashi and Jamal Starr — after two years of losses.

Brown’s group bought Bohemian Caverns from its former operator, Al Afshar, the building’s landlord. Their fractured relationship and the club’s complicated history, dating back to 1926, are described in an article by Michael J. West in this week’s City Paper.

The room’s unique cavernous décor is a relic of Club Crystal Caverns, which opened on New Year’s Eve 1932. During that era, it hosted such stars as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday. Later, in the classic years under the name Bohemian Caverns, from 1959 to 1968 (when it closed, a few months after the riots), John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald and Thelonious Monk, among others, performed.

Since reopening as Bohemian Caverns, the club has become a showcase for rising jazz artists and home to a 17-piece big band that plays every Monday. Recent setbacks have included the recession, a car crashing into the back of the building in 2013 and a negligence lawsuit filed last year in relation to an alleged sexual assault in 2012.

Percy Metcalfe • March 24, 2016

Georgetown University’s Lecture Fund, a student-run organization, has invited Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, to deliver a speech on campus on April 20. Richards’s acceptance of the invitation has triggered considerable backlash from the university’s student-run Right to Life organization, which claims the event is contrary to Georgetown’s identity as a Jesuit institution.

Two petitions have been launched — by Georgetown University Right to Life and Students for Life of America and by the Cardinal Newman Society — both calling for Richards’s visit to be cancelled, citing Planned Parenthood’s status as the nation’s largest abortion provider.

A statement issued by administrators defended the Lecture Fund’s actions, stating that the university sought to “provide a forum that does not limit free speech.” However, the statement also referred to the continued strength of Georgetown’s Jesuit identity and reaffirmed the university’s commitment to the “sanctity and human dignity of every stage of life.” Michael Khan, president of Georgetown University Right to Life, has condemned the administrators’ “lack of moral courage” in refusing to oppose Richards’s upcoming speech.

The Archdiocese of Washington, led by Cardinal Donald Wuerl, also released a statement, which criticized the absence of “morality, ethics and human decency” on a campus that purports to uphold Catholic values.

Juliana Zovak •

With the National Cherry Blossom Festival underway and anticipated peak bloom only a couple days away, the Federal Aviation Administration released a video last Thursday reminding festival-goers that the Tidal Basin is a part of the “no-drone zone.”

Eager photographers will not be able to use any unmanned aircraft systems to capture pictures of the blossoms from above.

The Special Flights Rules Area that extends in a 30-mile radius from Reagan National Airport includes an inner 15-mile radius in which drones are prohibited at all times.

“Flying a drone within these areas at any time, including the National Cherry Blossom Festival, is against the law, and violators could face stiff fines and criminal penalties,” according to the video. “Enjoy the National Cherry Blossom Festival, but leave your drone at home.”

The festival began on Sunday and will continue until April 17. The National Park Service estimates that peak bloom will begin March 23 or 24.

View the video [here](http://www.faa.gov/tv/?mediaId=1280). For more information on the festival, visit http://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org.

Georgetowner •

The Georgetown Business Improvement District will host its annual Community Engagement Meeting tomorrow, Tuesday, March 22, at 6 p.m. at Pinstripes, 1064 Wisconsin Ave. NW.

The meeting’s focus will be the 2016 Update Report on the Georgetown 2028 Action Agenda. Of the 75 action items in the Georgetown 2028 15-Year Vision and Action Plan, launched in January of 2014, the BID has completed or made substantial progress on 57.

Among the accomplishments that the BID cites are:

• Creating a new non-profit organization to lead restoration, improvements and activation of the C&O Canal, entering into partnership with the National Park Service to create a master plan for the canal and securing funding for major capital improvement projects and the purchase of a new canal boat; and

• Organizing and facilitating the process ending the 26-year old liquor license moratorium in Georgetown, in partnership with the ANC and Citizens Association of Georgetown.

For details, visit georgetowndc.com.

Georgetowner •

Police are on the lookout for a black male, 5-foot-6, 140 pounds, in his mid-50s, who robbed a person at gunpoint at 4:45 p.m. Saturday, March 19, on the 1500 block of Wisconsin Avenue.